AVOID Scott Clark Toyota in south Charlotte at all cost.

I sold motorcycles for a couple of years in my youth and the very first thing drilled into me by the owner was to consider EVERYONE that walked through the door as a qualified buyer. Period.

 

Wow, I am very impressed that the Owner of the Dealer would reply. It does seem like he really cares about the Business. Maybe it would be worth giving them another shot.

 

I'm glad the OP got a response from the managing partner of the dealership. And even with my personal negative experiences with dealerships in the past, I realize that there are a great number of decent, qualified and ethical people that work in the automobile dealership industry.

But I still think that the dealership sales model is antiquated and broken. High volume dealerships have to sell at high volume. Which means they have to be agressive. That means you get lots of stories like this.

I'm not knocking Toyota, or Scott Clark Toyota, with whom I have never done business. Because I think this is an industry wide reality.

But I have to be quite cynical. My last buying experience, which happened to be with Honda, was a step by step nightmare. I love the vehicle but the entire buying process turned out to be one mistake, after another.

Without naming names, because I understand sometimes it is just an individual or just a bad day...This was also at a high volume dealership that proudly professed and displayed many IMO worthless Dealership Awards.

I think it's humorous that these dealerships (all makes) always have some Parent Company "Award"...always with some prestigious sounding name. Like "Presidents Golden Numb Chucks Award"...or "The Teflon Customer Service Award"...pick em'...

BUT in my experience, if you do have trouble with a dealership and call the Parent Company....these awards mean NOTHING. Suddenly you get "Dealerships are individually owned and there's nothing they can do".

So I'm sorry, but internally awarded "Awards" IMO are nothing but showcase fodder.

Again, I know I'm being harsh, and I also respect that there are a great number of ethical, good, and competent people working at dealerships that do their best to balance customer service, with agressive sales.

It does my heart good to read from a high level dealership manager that seems to take pride in the dealerships tactics and actions.

But I think as long as survival of the dealership, and success of the sales people are directly tied to the volume of sales produced, it will constantly create an enviroment where customers walking on the lot are viewed as pieces of meat to sharks.

Some sharks will be nicer and more skilled. Some less nice and less skilled. But the goal will always be to sell a vehicle to the person, as quickly as possible.

Thank God for the internet, because IMO the best defense as a consumer is to use it as a tool. Either directly in how you purchase, or at least to be as prepared and knowledgeable about what you want, and what price you should pay before you even arrive at a dealership.

I still think a separation between sales...and exploration, information should be created. Even if dealerships need to have separate departments.

I've often wondered why dealerships couldn't all have a representative fleet of all their models that are primarily and exclusively used as TEST DRIVE vehicles. Perhaps consumers could even call ahead and schedule time for a test drive in these models.

These could be vehicles that are set aside from direct and immediate sales, with the idea that many, many miles are put on the vehicle before it might eventually be sold at a discount as used.

Because I get that too...the "if you test drive...(usually almost a useless, so short a drive you can't tell anything experience)...you must buy. And I don't think it should be like that either. You shouldn't feel like if you ask for a test drive, you MUST be willing to buy that day.....and conversely, dealership salespeople shouldn't be so uptight about putting miles on a new vehicle, that "Test Drives" become so short as to be useless to everyone involved.

But it's really become IMO too often that a dealership is an immediate killing floor designed to lure, hook and drag a customer to the fastest and shortest route to signing the sales contract.

The only enviroment you can go to, to really compare vehicles hands on, is an Auto Show. And you're out of luck if there isn't one in your area, or it's a year away.

I'll concede that I have personal prejudice based on negative past experience. Perhaps that's unfair. But in my lifetime of buying several vehicles from dealerships New and Used, I've had only one experience that I walked away from, feeling it went well, and that the dealership was fair.

That's not a good track record.

 

It's great to have you here. But I see you only have one post. Go take a look at Dianne Whitmire. She has hundreds of posts here, and guess what? She sold over 160 Plug-in Prius cars in a single day. How many pre-orders did you take? Dianne logs in here every day, and helps Prius owners across the nation. She is what your salespeople should be. People from all across America buy their cars from her because she works hard, she communicates, she shares the enthusiasm, and she's here the day after she sells you a car.

160 cars in a day. Think about it.

 

Just a warning to the OP.

"In fact, I would be willing to make myself available for a meeting with you anytime you would wish to discuss this matter further."

If he suggests this meeting take place at an abandoned warehouse and you come alone? Don't go.

 

No abandoned warehouse, just a super busy car dealership selling tons of cars and taking care of 200 plus service customers a day!!

 

PM sent with my contact info.

I thought of something else that might offset the time you wasted at my dealership on Sat. I have around 135 cars in the Toyota Rental Car Dept including several Prius V. We do not have any C's or Camry Hybrids I'm afraid; neither are available to the Toyota Rental Depts as yet. In any case, I bring this up because I would be happy to make the V available for an extended free period. I could have one of my rental reps drop it off for you at the location of your choice and then pick up when you are done. You could have it for a up to week if you would like. I think this might be good to give you an idea as to whether the vehicle fits your objectives.

Please understand that I present this option in a good faith attempt to offset the inconvenience you experienced before, and not in attempt to sell you a car. We will likely get up over 550 sales this month and it would be clear to anyone that if I truly were looking to sell another car, there would be far easier paths I could take, and far easier customers to pursue.

 

No doubt, Dianne is truly awesome. I remember her years ago when she first made a name for herself participating in the Edmunds Town Halls.

I would love to have myself or some of my team members be involved on this board along with some of the other product specific enthusiast boards. However, our approach would likely be different because our goal would be different for a variety of reasons including: First with regards to plug-ins, NC Toyota dealers are not able to offer them yet. Those are initially available only to the states deemed in primary need. Additionally our business focuses largely on catering to the local customer who can become a service customer. That is how we have built the largest Toyota Service Dept in the Southeast out of 176 dealerships. Service business drives sales retention which along with good customer service drives more service business which in turn drives yet even more sales business. Not intended to bore you with the business model, but simply to the point out that not everyone can be a Dianne, nor is everyone trying to be for that matter.

 

At the risk of causing this thread to veer widely off its intended course, I would like to respectfully point out that while manufacturer awards may seem artificial or contrived to you, they most certainly are not. For example, the President's Cabinet Award for Toyota is exclusive to ONLY the 12 BEST Toyota dealers in the ENTIRE nation out of OVER 1300 Toyota dealers. That is hardly "showcase fodder". In fact, I wish I could help you properly understand the herculean task involved with being in the top 12 nationally. There are over 20,000 total car dealers in the nation for all the various brands, and 12 get be President's Cabinet for Toyota. Surely that is better than "showcase fodder"!

 

Well, as I said, if I have a problem with your dealership and call Toyota, is the fact that you are the "President's Liquor Cabinet Award Winner" going to make any difference?

And how is "Best" defined? My guess, highly tied into volume of sales.

Every dealership Toyota or otherwise I have dealt with has had some type of Parent Company presented award. It's never made the buying experience any better to me.

I respect that you have had the guts to defend your dealership within this forum.

I fully admit, and concede I have never dealt with your dealership, and perhaps it's the greatest place on earth to buy a Toyota.

Infact your willingness to stick your neck into this discussion is highly laudable. IMO that is worth more...than a framed certificate proclaiming your dealerships inclusion within The Presidents Cabinet.

 

Yeah, I was joking.

It is recognized by those that know me, that I have an odd sense of humor.

This unfortunately, due to an abhorrence to using Smilies, sometimes leads to people mistaking my sense of humor for sincerity.

But I still say, go in wearing a wire, and have back-up ready.

 

Take it from me calling or writing to toyota corp for any issues is a complete waste of time, its like talking to a 2 year old, we dont have anything we can say or do with the dealerships, the are independently owned , if you have an issue your screwed ,this is all based on personal dealings with johnston toyota , and the funny thing is everyone knocks gm, were is toyota any better when it comes to service, there not!!

 

I have to dispute this. When my dealer refused to disable my reverse beep because of safety issues I called toyota. Within 15 minutes they had the service manager call me back and ask when I could come by.


iPad ?

 

I would have to say, that scenario is very specific and unfortunately more the exception than the rule.

With my run ins with Dealerships, the ultimate response becomes "Dealerships are independently owned. Therefore, we cannot....(fill in the blank). "

 

For warranty or repair works, Toyota may intervene because the customer can take legal action. But for disputes or behavior problem with the dealer, there is no legal recourse and just like what you say, Toyota just sit on the sideline.

 

Mr. Cady (ScottClarkToyota),

How did you find this thread, were you somehow alerted or did you stumble upon PriusChat? Thanks for responding to the OP and for showing interest in this forum.

 

In my opinion, the opportunity for you to use PriusChat to build your service business is much larger than the opportunity to build your car sales business.
People have car problems all the time, and everybody wants a shop that's fair, skilled, and honest. People will drive long distances to get their expensive repair done right. If you're the "go-to-guy" for Prius repairs in the South, business will be booming. There are all kinds of repair, maintenance and tech discussions here for your techs to involve themselves in, and it won't take long to prove yourselves. Then, people here will start referring work to you.

PS -- I'm not financially involved with PriusChat, I'm just a fan.

 

After reading this thread, I had to jump in and comment favorably about Scott Clark Toyota and Mr. Chris Cady. I have been doing business with them for about five years and have been very pleased. They have never let me down in any respect, sales or service wise! I bring in both my Prii, 2007 & 2010 for service regularly. In fact, when the two TSBs came out for the engine knocking & vibration on the 2010, Mr. Cady made sure that the IP manifold & motor mount were ordered immediately without requiring the problem to be duplicated! Also, their sales people are friendly and informed about the vehicles! In fact, the OP who said Town & Country Toyota was superior in the way he was treated, I found this to be just the opposite; having done business with them in the past!
I am not an employee of Scott Clark Toyota or have been financally compensated for this statement, just a satisfied customer!!